MADISON FLUX
£79.99 www.freewheel.co.uk
The Flux trousers are well-priced and unfussy, with a handful of useful features and subtle styling. Madison use a four-way stretch fabric that’s reasonably light and soft to the touch. Laser-cut perforations in the thigh panels and just below the rear waistband, coupled with mesh sections behind the knee, prevent you ever getting too clammy, while a DWR coating helps keep you dry. There’s reinforced stitching in key areas to bolster durability, along with silicone print on the inside-back of the waist to stop it slipping down. The Flux pants have a zipped fly and ratchet buckle, which doubles as the waist adjuster. While we’re fans of keeping things simple, there just wasn’t enough adjustment for us. Even with the ratchet strap fully pulled in, we couldn’t get the waist tight enough on our roomy-feeling size-small trousers. That meant the crotch sagged when riding, especially if the trousers got heavier after a soaking, making the legs baggier and more susceptible to flapping about. As Madison don’t offer an XS option, we couldn’t size down. Larger testers didn’t have this problem, though. Our other issue was that the material didn’t move easily over knee pads. At times, this left the trousers tugging at our pads as we pedalled, which was a little irritating. On the plus side, the zipped hip pockets are well-sized and positioned, and just about big enough for a smartphone, so work really well. While the Flux pants might not work for those with smaller waists, if you’re a taller/bigger rider, the simple styling, decent cut and reasonable price add to their appeal, but we’d advise erring on the side of caution and sizing down to get the best possible fit.